When transporting sensitive goods, like fruit, vegetables and plants, certain environmental conditions must be observed. Therefore, containers for the transport of such goods are typically provided with air treatment systems, like cooling, heating, dehumidification and/or humidification systems. In standardised containers, which are, for example, used for overseas transports, the system is usually arranged in an end wall, where the treated air is delivered downwards and the return air from the inside of the container is sucked in from above. In order to distribute the treated air optimally in the container, the floor of the container is often provided with channels, for example by inserting so-called T-floors, as known from, for example, the patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,095. The channels guide the air supplied from the air treatment system through the floor away from the system. From the channels in the floor, the treated air penetrates into the inner chamber of the container through slots.
It is already known that the distribution of the air and the efficiency of the system can be improved, if a closed channel is arranged at the transition between the air treatment system and the channels of the floor. It is also known to arrange an air guide between the system and the floor in such a manner that, together with the end wall, the floor and the side walls of the container, it forms such a channel. The channel must be accessible for cleaning, and therefore, the air guide is usually mounted to be openable and made of light-weight materials, for example aluminium or glass-fibre reinforced plastic. In order to prevent the air guide from being hit by the forks of a fork-lift truck, when handling the transported goods, it is usually provided with an inward bulge in the direction of the end wall. This increases the horizontal distance of the air guide from the projecting parts of the air treatment system, so that the forks must project further from below the goods to be able to hit the air guide. However, it still happens, and therefore stop chocks or stop brackets are often arranged behind the air guide, so that the air guide can only partly be pushed in the direction of the end wall. To a great extent this prevents the channel from being completely jammed, but it still provides no safe protection against damages to the air guide and the stop chocks or brackets. Such damages deteriorate the air distribution and the efficiency of the system, and under certain circumstances, for example in connection with high outdoor temperatures, this may damage the goods. All in all, such damages incur high costs, on the one side because of the devaluation of the goods and on the other side because of the accrued repair costs. Further, particularly when transporting foodstuff, the proper cleaning of the containers is of great importance. Therefore, it would also be advantageous, if the air guide with its equipment would have the smoothest possible surface without edges and corners, as this would make the cleaning of the container easier.